First of all, a large part of me is greatly hoping that the people who subscribed to the story alert for my fanfic have forgotten about it completely because I haven't updated for months...and now I'm at a point where I am severely lacking the motivation to continue with it. I would like to apologise for those who were enjoying it; at the time I wrote the first chapter I had the whole story planned out and didn't imagine that I would get to this stage. Yep, woe is me, I am a complete failure. I really am truly sorry to all my readers, and trust me I would understand if you clicked the 'back' button the moment you read 'lacking motivation'. Anyway I decided to just put this chapter up, it's only halfway complete and it's an awful chapter and needs some serious editing but I feel like I might as well since I don't know if I'll ever get round to finishing it. Of course, there might be a day when I suddenly change my mind and think 'No, I am going to finish this!' But please don't have any expectations, at all. Lastly, thank you so much for the reviews- I recall myself grinning for days because your comments were absolutely lovely! You're too good to me, truly...
One week later, Hermione regained consciousness.
Eyeing the dreary white-favoured appearance and the immaculately prepared beds, it didn't take her long to recognise the Hospital Wing in all its glory. Yet the room was not how one would expect it to be; her mind reeled with the notion with that something was not quite right. Why were the beds vacant? It was uncharacteristically quiet, and… was that lavender in the air? Where was the unmistakable scent of rotting human flesh, or the groans of the torture-subjected victims that she had become accustomed to ever since Voldemort had invaded Hogwarts? It was as if she was merely being treated for wizard's flu on a typical school day.
School. How she yearned for the past; she imagined herself seated in a classroom once again, scribbling away furiously with a worn-out quill and a fierce determination to note down every word that came out of the professor's mouth. It was difficult to accept that Hogwarts had changed for the worst, or that even her life was no longer something that could be taken for granted. Not that having Harry Potter for a best friend exactly warranted a normal life, but finding a home at Hogwarts and being surrounded by people who loved her, she couldn't have been happier.
The only theory she could come up with to explain the lingering silence was that whilst she had been unconscious, Voldemort had succeeded in capturing Harry, and Hogwarts had subsequently surrendered. But if that was the case, why was she still alive? Did he plan on having her tortured for information concerning the Order? She didn't exactly fancy a round of the cruciatus curse after what Dolohov just put her through. But it wasn't as if she would talk, and so she would simply take her Gryffindor stubbornness to the extreme and endure the pain.
Turning to her right, she held back a gasp at the sight of her wand lying innocently on the bedside table. What is going on? The Death Eaters knew from the battle at the Ministry about how adept she was at duelling; it would have been rather foolish to believe that she would not dare attack them, even if she were greatly outnumbered.
Hermione brushed her fingers over her vine-based wand fondly, as she acknowledged it as her only source of comfort, knowing that it was one thing providing her with that feeling of security as of now. She picked it up, and gripped it tightly.
The loud creak signifying an opening door brought her back into her war mode; she leaped out of the bed and readied herself into an offensive stance. However her body had not healed completely, and she cried out from the sharp pain she felt as her ribs protested against the rapid movement. It appeared that her injuries were a little more serious than she had anticipated. Damn you Dolohov.
Falling onto her knees, she gritted her teeth as her eyes welled up from the pain. She kept her head up, silently waiting for whoever had entered to come into her view.
It could have been a death eater, or another war ally being brought in for medical attention. What she was not expecting however, was an old woman dressed in the school matron's uniform to greet her sight.
Said stranger was now rushing towards her.
"Oh, my poor dear! If I had known that you would be up and out of bed so soon-" The woman rambled on such a fast pace that Hermione struggled to concentrate on her words in her current condition.
As if she would be foolish enough to believe a word coming from her mouth anyway. This woman was acting under Voldemort's orders. Whether she was either a death eater in disguise or a victim of the imperius curse, Hermione didn't know. Regardless of which it was, the woman would undoubtedly switch to the offensive any second now. Hermione had to gain the upper hand, and so she pointed her wand at whom she though was an 'impersonator' of Madam Pomfrey.
"Don't move! Come any closer and I'll curse you!" Hermione spat.
The matron halted her movements, and held her hands up to Hermione as if to reassure her that she would not harm her. Hermione noted that she didn't have a wand on her, and hesitated to use her own. It then occurred to Hermione that the woman probably was under the imperius curse; she couldn't have been so idiotic as to face an enemy without a wand to defend herself with. In that case the woman didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of Hermione's wand. So Hermione raised her wand to immobilise her.
Tom Riddle sighed in frustration as his mind failed to solve- or at least come to an acceptable explanation- for the sudden appearance of a certain individual. However, he justified to himself that no valid conclusions could be made if he had little information to work on.
She had plagued his thoughts since leaving the Hospital Wing a week ago. For a brief period, he wondered why a complete stranger, nonetheless a girl, would be granted his full attention, when not even his so-called Slytherin 'friends' were deemed worthy enough for it. But alas, the girl was a delightful enigma. A mind as intelligent as his became easily bored when it could be presented with few challenges, but now he had something else to actively work on besides his studies and gathering followers. He would investigate the girl's situation; which he expected would lead to him discovering a method for leaving and entering the grounds of Hogwarts undetected. He also had a strong feeling that this new 'project' of his would somehow aid him in his plans to rise to power.
The rest of the student population were currently dining in the Great Hall. Fortunately the Slytherins were used to Tom's absence and would not question it, they expected he'd be pouring over a book from the library's restricted section as usual. After all, being head boy at Hogwarts had numerous privileges- one of them being given complete access to this area of the library. And though he was technically allowed to take out any book from the restricted section, he did not wish to raise suspicion- it wasn't exactly difficult to do when one mainly looked upon books with titles such as 'Irreversible potent curses' and 'The untold successes of Dark Wizards'
This time however, Tom's destination was not the library. More specifically, it was his fifth visit to the Hospital Wing that week. When he had not been advancing his knowledge of the dark arts, Tom had been concealing his true intent of charming Madam Rosary into revealing more about the girl by appearing as if he were actually concerned about the her well-being. Sadly, he had been told that the girl had not yet woken, and therefore they hadn't been able to even identify her as of yet.
"Don't move! Come any closer and I'll curse you!"
For the second time that week, Tom heard a female scream whilst he was taking a stroll along an empty corridor. Yet this time it was coming from the hospital wing situated just ahead of him.
Tom sprinted down the corridor, pulling out his faithful wand from the inner pocket of his robes. Whoever had screamed was obviously wielding a wand.
Unfortunately the doors to the hospital wing were shut, and knowing how loudly they would creak if opened, Tom knew he would not be able to enter unnoticed.
Deciding the risk was worth it, he pushed the doors open and pointed his wand at the figure he saw brandishing a wand. Which turned out to be the young woman he had discovered in the bathroom. She was leaning heavily against a bedpost clearly about to curse Madam Rosary, but the creaking doors had alerted her of his presence, and without hesitation she waved her wand in his direction.
Before Tom could react, his wand flew out of his hand and was skilfully caught by the young woman. Tom stared her down, furious. Who was this witch that dared to disarm him?
(There should be another separation line here but they won't let me put it in...)
The doors to the Hospital Wing burst open, and Hermione's eyes darted to the tall, dark-haired young man who entered. Her eyes widened slightly as she noticed that unlike the old woman, he was equipped with a wand. Instinctively, she non-verbally cast 'expelliarmus' at him before he could properly assess the situation, and felt relieved as his wand left his hand and travelled towards her.
She winced in pain as she reached forward to seize the wand, and then grabbed hold of the bedpost as her vision blurred momentarily. Her body was still in a weakened state from Dolohov's attack, and a part of her wished that she had faked unconsciousness until she had made a decent recovery.
Once the room appeared have stopped spinning, she refocused her sight upon the young man who hadn't yet moved. What added to her confusion was that he was wearing the school robes and appeared to be around her age, yet his face was not familiar to her at all. His eyes blazed with anger, and she held her breath as she waited for him to speak.
Without warning he flicked his wrist and she gaped in horror as both wands flew out of her hand and landed on the floor in front of her, rolling under a bed that was nearer to the young man than to her.
She stared at him fearfully as a smirk appeared on his face. He began to approach her, walking ever so slowly with a predatory gleam in his eyes.
Not knowing what else to do, Hermione decided to make a run for it. She thought he'd expect her to go for the wands and would therefore move towards them to stop her, giving her the perfect opportunity to slip past him and reach the doors.
She sped towards him, and as she passed she quickly ducked to avoid his outstretched arm. However he managed to grasp her arm from behind, and pulled Hermione back to him. She kicked his shin with full force, causing him to relinquish his grip on her. He yelped and rubbed his shin in pain.
Hermione did not falter and ran straight out of the Hospital Wing and down a short corridor that led to the Entrance Hall.
"Miss! Please come back here! Stop her Tom!" She heard the woman shout.
Still running on pure adrenaline, Hermione looked behind her and saw the boy whom was apparently named Tom chasing after her, whilst the old woman stood by the doors seemingly waiting for the man to bring her back there.
She tried to pick up her speed seeing that the man, with his long legs, was definitely catching up to her, but Hermione's exhausted body refused to cooperate with her, and she knew she was slowing down.
'Almost there' she thought as the Entrance Hall came into view, ignoring how her legs felt as if they were going to buckle any moment now.
Before she could register what was happening, Hermione was knocked to the ground by a strong force from behind her. She landed facedown, and immediately rolled onto her back to defend herself. Two large hands grasped her wrists tightly as Tom appeared in her line of vision again; his knees pinning her legs down whilst he bent over her.
He brought his face to within such proximity of hers that their noses were less than an inch away from touching; his icy blue eyes glowered at her honey-coloured ones. Hermione continued struggling against his iron grip.
'Calm down.' He spoke so softly, yet the underlying threat was palpable from the coolness of his tone.
Unable to move any of her limbs from underneath him, Hermione did not regret what she did next. Lifting her upper body up, she bit into his shoulder hard, drawing blood.
Tom quickly rolled off her in shock. 'You little bitch.' He growled as he used a hand to apply some pressure to his wound.
'I am terribly sorry,' she sneered sarcastically before she could stop herself. She started getting up.
'Petrificus totalas' Hermione felt a cold sensation travel down her spine as her whole body froze whilst she was still half bent over, and she started falling backwards without control over her body. Two arms wrapped around her waist before she could smack into the ground, and she was hoisted (rather roughly if she might add) onto Tom's left shoulder.
Shit, shit, shit. You idiot! Hermione wanted to cry. She shouldn't have presumed that as being of student age, he would be incapable of wandless magic beyond a simple 'expelliarmus' or 'alohomora'. Now she was in serious trouble.
'Well if you're going to make things difficult, can you blame me for not playing nicely hmm?' Hermione didn't need to see Tom's face to know that he was smirking. Incapable of movement and wandless, she could only stare at the floor in defeat and humiliation as he carried her towards the hospital wing.
Knots of anxiety built up in her stomach as they re-entered the Hospital Wing. How was she going to get out of this one? She heard the 'matron' sigh in relief at her capture. Still hanging on Tom's shoulder, she could only look as high as the old woman's knees. Therefore she hadn't a clue if the matron had any vials of some sort for Hermione to drink from in her hands, which would of course be problematic if that were the case.
'Ah well done Mr Riddle. Though it's a shame you had to return her in such a manner. Put her on the bed there, quickly. She has not been injured further, yes?'
'Of course Madam Rosary. I'm sorry that I had to petrify her in order to bring her to you, but please believe me when I say that there really was no other option.' He couldn't have sounded more apologetic to Hermione.
'Nonsense, Mr Riddle. She would have already left Hogwarts long ago had you not been around to stop her! Well I'm going to have to remove the spell now- oh my, is that blood on you Mr Riddle?' The woman asked disbelievingly.
'It's fine Madam, just a small wound. I can tend to it myself.' Hermione heard him reply. She couldn't have felt more awkward just lying there on the bed listening to their conversation, still frozen in a curled-up position.
'Mmm still I'd like to give it a little patching up after I've sorted this one out,' she said, indicating to Hermione. 'I take it she's going to try to make a quick getaway as soon as I remove the spell?'
'Would you like me to assist?' Tom offered.
'Thank you, Tom. As soon as your spell has been lifted and she is able to move, I want you to hold her down so I can bind her to the bed. On the count of three, Tom. One, two, three- Finite incantatum!'
Hermione tried to get out of the bed as soon as the stiffness in her limbs faded. Obviously Tom was prepared for her reaction; he grabbed her shoulders and forced her down again.
'Mmph!'
Hermione struggled rather futily as invisible ropes wrapped around her, attaching her from her waist downwards to the bed.